Combination personal data assistant and personal computing system dynamic memory reclamation

ABSTRACT

In order to continually receive messages in a dual personal computer system (PC) and personal digital assistant system (PDA) computer architecture, the PC system is deactivated to conserve battery power while the PDA continues to receive messages. As PDA memory is filled with messages, messages that are synchronized and archived with the PC system are deleted and space is freed for incoming messages. When new and non-synchronized messages completely fill the PDA memory array, the PC system is reactivated or the user is informed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is related to commonly assigned patentapplication Ser. No. 09/740,138, filed Dec. 18, 2000 and entitled “ACOMBINATION PERSONAL DATA ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL COMPUTING DEVICE”having La Vaughn F. Watts, Jr. and Ronald D. Shaw as inventors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates generally to a computing system and moreparticularly to a mobile computing system integrating dissimilarcomputing architectures and receiving messages and files, with themessages and files arranged to conserve memory space with minimal userintervention.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] There are currently two popular types of mobile computingsystems. The mobile Personal Computer (PC) system is a fully functionaldata processing system, typically having the same functionality as adesktop PC or a workstation PC. The mobile PC system (PC system) can rununder any number of standard operating systems (OS), such as one of thereleases of Windows® by the Microsoft Corporation. In implementing thePC system in a mobile computing architecture, several relativelyundesirable features are apparent. First, the batteries of the PC systemmust be recharged after a relatively short time, typically in the orderof a few hours. Despite improvements in battery technology, the questfor lighter and more compact portable units have tended to reduce thespace allocated to the batteries so that time between charging of thebatteries has not been significantly improved. The batteries used in thePC system, however, are capable of relatively rapid charging. As withthe desktop PC unit and the workstation PC from which they are derived,the OS needed for the PC system requires a relatively long time from theactivation of the power switch to the time when the processing system isavailable for actual computation. The PC system, however, has remarkableflexibility and can provide processing capability of extraordinarypower. PC systems also have great memory capacity, having disk drivesthat can store significant amounts of information.

[0006] More recently the personal digital assistant (PDA) system hasbeen developed to take advantage of operating systems (OS) such as Palm®OS and Windows®. These operating systems, in conjunction with a PDAsystem, permit a reduced or specialized functionality computing system.

[0007] PDA systems are relatively small in physical size and can performa variety of useful functions such as arrange calendars; scheduleappointments; send and receive e-mail; provide presentations; createdocuments; and provide communications. The PDA OS can permit exchange offiles between the PDA systems and a PC system with Microsoft Windows®files. While the reduced functionality can be a disadvantage of the PDAsystem, the PDA vsystem has several advantages. An advantage is the timebetween charging of the batteries can be greatly extended, a result ofthe reduced functionality and the absence of disk storage units. The PDAsystem has its memory loaded in a memory circuit, such as a flashmemory, which allows the PDA system to become active much quicker than aPC system. This memory, however, has limited capacity and can quickly befilled up.

[0008] Current PC systems and PDA systems have the capability tocommunicate and receive messages such as email, particular throughwireless communication technologies. The PC systems with their largememory capacity can receive and store a great number of messages beforememory space is exhausted. PC systems, however, with their drainingpower requirement cannot continuously be left on while in battery mode.Therefore a PC system is limited in the number of messages it receivesbecause it cannot continually be left on. A PDA system with its lowbattery consumption has the capability to remain on for a very longtime. A PDA system, however, with its limited memory capacity canquickly run out of memory. Without operator intervention, a PDA systemwith its memory capacity fully filled, is not able to receive incomingmessages. Therefore current PC systems and PDA systems are limited intheir abilities to receive incoming messages such as email.

[0009] A need has been felt for a mobile computing architecture havingthe desirable features of both the PC systems and of the PDA systems. Inparticular, the computing architecture would have the feature of anexpanded time between battery charges. Another feature of the computingarchitecture would be the ability to continually receive incomingmessages such as email and store messages until a user reads themessages. Yet another feature would be provide for a computingarchitecture that archives messages and allows incoming messages to becontinually received with minimal user intervention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The aforementioned and other features are accomplished, accordingto the present invention, by providing a mobile computing architecturethat includes a PC system and a pDA system which independently haveaccess to a communication device, allowing either system to communicateand receive messages regardless of the active state of the other System.

[0011] Messages are synchronized between the PDA system and the PCsystem so either system is able to read messages that have been receivedby the other system. The PC system with its large memory capacity isable to archive and store messages, therefore the PDA is Able to free upmemory space by deleting records whenever its memory is filled and newmessages are unable to be stored.

[0012] To conserve battery power, the PC system is deactivated or placedin a suspend state while the PDA system continues to receive messages.As the memory of the PDA system is filled with new non-synchronizedmessages, synchronized messages in the PDA memory are automaticallydeleted. When the PDA memory array is filled with new non-synchronizedmessages the PC system can be activated to synchronize messages, archivemessages, and clear messages in order to free up space for incomingmessages. The user may also be informed to read new messages and takeaction to free up space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The present invention may be better understood, and it's numerousobjects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the samereference number throughout the figures designates a like or similarelement.

[0014]FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a personal computer (PC)system.

[0015]FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a personal digital assistant(PDA) system.

[0016]FIG. 3 illustrates a combined PC and PDA computing architecture.

[0017]FIG. 4 illustrates a combined PC and PDA computing architecturethat provides communication access to either the PC system or the PDAsystem.

[0018]FIG. 5A illustrates a memory array for a PDA system synchronizedto a memory array for a PC system.

[0019]FIG. 5B illustrates filled memory arrays for the PC system and thePDA system.

[0020]FIG. 5C illustrates cleared and empty records of memory arrays forthe PC system and the PDA system.

[0021]FIG. 5D illustrates a PDA memory array and a PC memory withsynchronized and non-synchronized records.

[0022]FIG. 5E illustrates a PDA memory array 500 with free space and anempty PC memory array 530.

[0023] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail, itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to theparticular form disclosed but on the contrary, the intention is to coverall modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Now referring to FIG. 1 illustrated is a block diagram of a PCsystem. The PC system of FIG. 1 is typical of systems based on the IntelPentium® and equivalent type processors. A PC CPU 100 is connected by abus 115 to a north bridge controller 105. Bus 115 typically is aperipheral component interconnect (PCI) bus. The north bridge controller105 interfaces to a system memory 125. Between the system memory 125 andthe north bridge controller 105 is a cache memory 135. The cache memory135 is used as “temporary” memory, particularly in displayinginformation to a user. From the north bridge controller 105 is a southbridge controller 110 used to interface to peripheral or input output(10) devices. A bus 120 connects the north bridge controller 105 to thesouth bridge controller 110. The bus 120 is also typically a PCI bus.From the south bridge controller a bus 130 connects peripheral or 10devices. Bus 130 can be a PCI bus.

[0025] Now referring to FIG. 2 illustrated is a block diagram of a PDAsystem. In a PDA system a PDA CPU 200 interfaces to a companionprocessor 205. The companion processor 205 handles interfacing toperipherals and to a system memory 210. From the companion processor 205is a bus 215. Bus 215 can be a low pin count (LPC) bus and communicateto peripherals and 10 devices.

[0026] Now referring to FIG. 3 illustrated is a combined PC and PDAcomputing architecture. A PC system 300 is connected to a switch 310 bya bus 345. The bus 345 can be an LPC bus. The switch 310 is connected toa PDA system 305 by a bus 350. The bus 350 can also be an LPC bus.Either the PC system 300 or the PDA system 305 can have control over thecommon peripherals and 10 devices, including a display 320. The switch310 isolates either the PC system 300 or the PDA system 305, placing oneof the systems in control of the entire computer system. Input andoutput control is conducted through a serial or super input outputcontroller (SIO) 325. The SIO 325 is connected to the PDA system 305 bythe bus 350 and another bus 355. Bus 350 allows the PC system 300 tointerface to the SIO 325 and the PDA system 305, with the PC system 300acting as a “master” device and the PDA system 305 as a “slave.” Whenthe PDA system 305 is in control of the computing architecture, the PDAsystem 305 communicates to the S10 325 by a bus 355. The bus 355 can bean LPC bus. The S10 325 provides video control to the display 320 by bus335 when either the PC system 300 or the PDA system 305 is in control.When in control, the PDA system 305 provides video content by way of bus340. When the PC system 300 is in control of the computing architecturevideo content is provided by way of bus 330. Other embodiments of thearchitecture can include providing a separate and independent connectionby way of busses to other common devices from the PC system 300 and thePDA system 305. Common devices can include wireless communicationtechnologies.

[0027] Now referring to FIG. 4, illustrated is a combined PC and PDAcomputing architecture that provides communication access to either thePC system or the PDA system. In a PC system the south bridge controllercan directly connect to a communication device 400 by the PCI bus 130.In a PDA system the companion processor 205 can be connected to thecommunication device 400 by the LPC bus 215. This computing architectureallows either the PC system or the PDA system to have access tocommunication, in particular wireless technology. Access by either thePC system or the PDA system is possible, regardless of the active statusof either system. Therefore if the PDA system is off, the PC system isable to receive messages such as email. If the PC system is off, the PDAsystem is able to receive messages.

[0028] Referring back to FIG. 3, the PC system 300 and the PDA system305 are connected by the bus 345 and the bus 350, and are able toexchange data between their respective memory. Further the connectionallows both systems to synchronize messages that are received andeventually archived in the memory of the PC system 300 or the PDA system305. Considering the limited memory capacity of the PDA system 305,archiving messages would best be undertaken by the PC system 300 withits significantly larger memory.

[0029] Now referring to FIG. 5A illustrated is a memory array for a PDAsystem synchronized to a memory array for a PC system. A PDA memoryarray 500 has several records for messages such as email or information.A PC memory array 530 has corresponding records to store or refer tomessages or information. The records of the memory arrays may be read orunread by a user. The PC memory array 530 may be a separate logical orphysical device to the PC system hard drive (permanent storage unit).Therefore in certain embodiments, the PDA memory array 500 issynchronized directly to the PC system hard drive.

[0030] The PC system with its large capacity storage has the ability toclear records in its memory array 530 and place messages in its harddrive. Since the PDA memory array 500 and PC memory array 530 aresynchronized whenever the PC memory array 530 retrieves messages fromthe hard drive, the PDA memory array 500 is able to read the messages.In this particular example, “Record 1” 512 of PDA memory array 500 issynchronized to “Record 1” 532 of PC memory array 530. Going down eachmemory array, “Record 2” 514 is synchronized to “Record 2” 534; “RecordN” 516 is synchronized to “Record N” 536; and “Record N+1” 518 issynchronized to “Record N+1” 538. A direct one to one correspondence ofeach record of the respective memory arrays of the PDA and PC system ismade available. In this particular example “Record N+1” 518 of PDAmemory array 500 is empty and available to receive a new message,therefore “Record N+1” 538 the corresponding record of PC memory array530 is also empty. “Record N+P” 520 and “Record N+P” 540 are also empty.In this particular embodiment the records that are empty are notsynchronized until a message is received or placed in the correspondingrecord of the other system's memory array. In this embodiment, thememory array of the respective systems are filled from the first recordto the last, in this case the last record is “Record N+P” 520 of PDAmemory array 500 and “Record N+P” 540 of PC memory array 530.

[0031] Now referring to FIG. 5B illustrated are filled memory arrays forthe PC system and the PDA system. As messages are received by eithersystem the memory arrays fill up until the end of memory (EOM) of eacharray is reached. In the case of the PDA memory array 500 the EOM 522 isafter “Record N+P” 520, and for the PC memory array 530, the EOM 630 isafter “Record N+P” 542.

[0032] In order to receive new messages such as email, the record arraysmust be cleared. Now referring to FIG. 5C illustrated are cleared andempty records of memory arrays for the PC system and the PDA system. Incertain applications, the first records such as “Record 1” 512, “Record1” 532, “Record 2” 514, and “Record 2” 534 are cleared and emptied toprovide for incoming messages. The records are deleted after the oldmessages that occupied the records are placed in the hard drive of thePC system. With the empty records, new messages may be received byeither system then the filled records are synchronized withcorresponding records of the memory array of the other system.

[0033] When the PC system is active, the computing architecture is ableto determine when the memory arrays are completely filled and allrecords are occupied. The PC system can request that the user archiveinto the hard disk selected records, delete those selected records fromthe memory arrays, thus providing empty records in which new messagescan be received. An alternative method would be to automatically,without user intervention, archive and delete the oldest records first.

[0034] When the PC is inactive, and the PDA is receiving incomingmessages, there is a greater concern of running out of records in thePDA memory array 500. A typical scenario is the following. In order tosave battery power, the PC system is made inactive or placed into asuspend state. The PC system is not able to receive messages, however,the computer architecture is able to continue receiving messages throughthe PDA system. Messages come in, take up record space, and without someoperator intervention, accumulate, and fill up the PDA memory array 500.New messages cannot be received until messages are deleted and recordsclear. A predetermined method to delete old messages to free up recordsto receive new messages can be arranged. This arrangement however,presents a problem when a user has not read all of the messages andolder unread messages are deleted without the user saving or having theopportunity to read the message.

[0035] Now referring to FIG. 5D illustrated are a PDA memory array and aPC memory With synchronized and non-synchronized records. When the PCsystem is inactive, the PDA system continues to receive messages and itsrecords are filled with the messages. Since the PC system is inactive,the records of PC memory array 530 that correspond to records of PDAmemory array 500 that are filled with new messages are not synchronized.“Record 1” 512 of PDA memory array 500 is not synchronized to “Record 1”532 of PC memory array 530. Therefore “Record 1” 532 is “empty” andcontains no message (information). As new messages are received by thePDA system, while the PC is inactive the records fill up, however, onlythe records in PDA memory array 500 are filled. Illustrated is a filledPDA memory array 500. “Record 1” 512, “Record 2” 514, and all records upto and including “Record N” are filled records in PDA memory array 500.These new messages contained in PDA memory array 500, however, are notsynchronized with their corresponding records in PC memory array 530which are “Record 1” 532, “Record 2” 534 up to and including “Record N”536. In this particular example, “Record N+1” 518 of PDA memory array500 is synchronized to “Record N+1” 538 of PC memory array 530. And allrecords up to and including “Record N+P” 520 of PDA memory array 500 aresynchronized with “Record N+P” 540 of PC memory array 530.

[0036] Since the PC memory array 500 can archive old messages into harddrive memory, the older synchronized files can be archived and therecords deleted, thus freeing up space for new messages. Now referringto FIG. 5E illustrated is PDA memory array 500 with free space and anempty PC memory array 530. After archiving the messages of thesynchronized records, in this particular example, “Record N+1” 538 up toand including “Record N +P” 540 of PC memory array 500, the records“Record N+1” 518 up to and including “Record N+P” 520 of PDA memoryarray 500 are deleted, freeing up these records in order to receive newmessages. The user can be made aware that messages have been deletedfrom the PDA system, and that they may be retrieved since they have beenarchived in the PC system.

[0037] This archiving and deletion process takes place until all therecords of the PDA memory array 500 are filled. This process occurswhile the PC system is inactive or suspended. When the PC system isactivated, synchronization of the records can take place. As the PDAsystem remains active and receiving messages, and the PC system remainsinactive, the PDA memory array 530 fills up with non-synchronizedmessages. When the EOM 522 of PDA memory array 530 is reached, the PDAsystem can either look to a predetermined preference to delete recordsand provide space for incoming messages or the PDA system can alert theuser that the PDA memory array 500 is filled and request action from theuser.

[0038] In order to avoid having the user manually look at, read, andselect records to delete from the PDA memory array 500, the followingcan take place. The PDA system can activate or wake up from a suspendstate the PC system when PDA memory array 500 is full. As the PC systemis awoken, records from the PDA memory array 500 are synchronized to thePC memory array 530. As files are synchronized, records from the PDAmemory array 500 are erased and the space made available for newmessages. Alternatively, the PDA system can stop receiving messages andallow the user to read the messages, and delete the messages from therecords after they have been read.

[0039] Variations of the synchronization process can include providingalerts to the user as to messages that are being deleted from the memoryarrays. The user can also be informed of actions that are needed to betaken such as reading messages or manually activating the PC system. Aprovision can be made for the PDA memory array 500 to contain headersfor the records contained therein. The headers of the individual recordsare used to identify that messages have been purged and archived to thePC system memory. The user also is made aware that the messages can beretrieved from the PC system memory. Embodiments of the invention caninclude provision for the user to set preferences as to messages thatmay be received and stored in the PDA memory array 500 without purging.Also the preference can include automatically purging certain messages.A flag may be set for incoming messages which identifies them asimportant messages that require the user's attention. Alternatively,“junk e-mail” or other unwanted messages without a special flag,messages that would take up valuable record space in the PDA memoryarray, may be automatically purged and sent or not sent to the PC systemmemory.

[0040] Although the present invention has been described in connectionwith several embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited tothe specific forms set forth herein, but on the contrary, it is intendedto cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can bereasonably included with in the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile computing system comprising of: acommunication device; a personal computing system (PC) comprised of astorage device capable of receiving and storing messages from thecommunication device; and a personal digital assistant system (PDA)comprised of a storage device capable receiving and storing messagesfrom the communication device, whereby the storage device of the PC iscapable of synchronizing received messages with the storage device ofthe PDA.
 2. The mobile computing system of claim 1 wherein the storagedevice of the PC is a memory array comprised of a set of records, andthe storage device of the PDA is a memory array comprised of a set ofrecords.
 3. The mobile computing system of claim 2 wherein a directcorrespondence is established between the set of records of the PCmemory array and the set of records of the PDA memory array.
 4. Themobile computing system of claim 2 wherein messages are synchronizedbetween the memory array of the PC and the memory array of the PDA. 5.The mobile computing system of claim 3 wherein messages are synchronizedbetween records of the PC memory array and records of the PDA memoryarray.
 6. The mobile computing system of claim 1 wherein the storagedevice of the PC is a hard disk drive.
 7. The mobile computing system ofclaim 6 wherein the hard disk drive is comprised of a memory array, andthe PDA storage device is comprised of a memory array, wherein the PChard disk drive memory array corresponds directly to the PDA memoryarray.
 8. A mobile computing system comprising of: a communicationdevice; a personal computing system (PC) capable of receiving messagesthrough the communication device; and a personal digital assistantsystem (PDA) capable of receiving messages through the communicationdevice and synchronizing the messages with the PC.
 9. The mobilecomputing system of claim 8 wherein the PDA is further comprised of amemory array where messages are received and entered, and the memoryarray is synchronized to the PC.
 10. The mobile computing system ofclaim 9 wherein the PC is further comprised of a memory array that issynchronized to the memory array of the PDA.
 11. The mobile computingsystem of claim 9 wherein the PC is further comprised of a hard diskdrive that is synchronized to the memory array of the PDA.
 12. A methodof clearing and archiving messages in a dual system computerarchitecture comprised of: receiving and storing messages by a firstcomputer system to a first memory device; synchronizing the messageswith a second computer system, where by the second computer systemarchives synchronized messages to a second memory device; and deletingsynchronized and archived messages whenever the first memory device isfilled.
 13. The method of clearing and archiving messages in a dualsystem computer architecture of claim 12 further comprising: identifyingthe deleted messages in the first memory devices.
 14. The method ofclearing and archiving messages in a dual system computer architectureof claim 12 wherein the first computer system is a personal digitalassistant system (PDA) and the second computer system is a personalcomputer system (PC).
 15. The method of clearing and archiving messagesin a dual system computer architecture of claim 13 wherein the firstcomputer system is a personal digital assistant system (PDA) and thesecond computer system is a personal computer system (PC).
 16. A methodof clearing and archiving messages in a dual system computerarchitecture comprised of: receiving and storing messages by a firstcomputer system to a first memory device; synchronizing the messageswith a second computer system, whereby the second computer systemarchives synchronized messages to a second memory device; and informinga user whenever the first memory device is filled.
 17. The method ofclearing and archiving messages in a dual system computer architectureof claim 14 further comprised of: deleting messages from the firstmemory device after the messages have been read by the user.
 18. Themethod of clearing and archiving messages in a dual system computerarchitecture of claim 16 wherein the first computer system is a personaldigital assistant (PDA) and the second computer system is a personalcomputer system (PC).
 19. The method of clearing and archiving messagesin a dual system computer architecture of claim 17 wherein the firstcomputer system is a personal digital assistant (PDA) and the secondcomputer system is a personal computer system (PC).
 20. The method ofclearing and archiving messages in a dual system computer architectureof claim 12 further comprised of: setting preferences as to received andstored messages.
 21. The method of clearing and archiving messages in adual system computer architecture of claim 13 further comprised of:setting preferences as to received and stored messages.
 22. The methodof clearing and archiving messages in a dual system computerarchitecture of claim 14 further comprised of: setting preferences as toreceived and stored messages.
 23. The method of clearing and archivingmessages in a dual system computer architecture of claim 15 furthercomprised of: setting preferences as to received and stored messages.24. The method of clearing and archiving messages in a dual systemcomputer architecture of claim 16 further comprised of: settingpreferences as to received and stored messages.
 25. The method ofclearing and archiving messages in a dual system computer architectureof claim 17 further comprised of: setting preferences as to received andstored messages.
 26. The method of clearing and archiving messages in adual system computer architecture of claim 18 further comprised of:setting preferences as to received and stored messages.
 27. The methodof clearing and archiving messages in a dual system computerarchitecture of claim 19 further comprised of: setting preferences as toreceived and stored messages.